$100 Billion More for Climate Change?

Posted on Nov 5, 2010

Like a chubby kid doing a chin-up, a group of finance ministers and heads of state has declared that it is “challenging but feasible” to generate $100 billion a year by 2020 to fund a program allowing developing countries to adapt to the effects of climate change and reduce domestic emissions.

Such a flow of aid could substantially increase the probability for a new global climate agreement, experts believe.

The $100 billion for the developing world is slated to come from carbon taxes, permit auctions and transport taxes. —JCL

The Guardian:

Guaranteeing major new aid flows for developing countries has become a prerequisite for a new climate agreement, but many developing countries argue that the $100bn on offer from rich countries falls far short of the funding necessary to help 130 poor countries which face devastating climate change. Others want the money to be drawn wholly from public finance sources which they say is more predictable.

Developing countries declined to react until they had read the report in detail but non-governmental groups said that initial analysis suggested that all the money could be raised from public funds. Tracy Carty, Oxfam climate change policy adviser, said: “The $100bn committed to in the Copenhagen accord must come from public sources of funding rather than private to ensure it reaches communities desperately in need of money to help them adapt to climate change and develop in a low-carbon way. Private finance cannot meet the needs of developing countries for adaptation.”

Interested observer: The plan would add to $100 billion pledged at Copenhagen to help developing countries adapt to climate change. Polar bears, meantime, will be watching with interest as their habitat melts away.